1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to protective sleeves for providing protection to elongate members contained therein, and more particularly to wrappable protective sleeves and to their methods of construction and use.
2. Related Art
Wrappable protective sleeves for providing protection to a straight elongate member contained therein are known. Typically, wrappable protective sleeves are fixed about the elongate member by a separate fastening feature, such as with tape or tie wraps wrapped circumferentially about the sleeve wall. Although tape and tie wraps devices can prove effective, they come at a cost by having to have them in inventory, and in addition, further require labor expense and time for application. Further, particularly with tape, it can become bulky and relatively heavy, and further yet, subsequent removal, such as may be necessary to service the elongate member, can prove laborious.
In addition to providing protection about straight elongate members, it is also know to wrap a complex protective sleeve or tape about a T-shaped union of elongate members to provide protection about the T-shape union. Unfortunately, the complex protective sleeves, generally having specialized T-shaped configurations themselves to allow them to be wrapped conformingly about the T-shaped union, are expensive in manufacture, and further, can require a certain degree of expertise and experience to apply. As for use of tape, the same issues discussed previously, namely, inventory costs and laborious application and removal, hold true to an even increased degree given the complexity of having to wrap the tape about a T-shape configuration.